Separateness to Oneness

Written on August 27, 2008 by Tom Stine / 46 Comments »

credit: judepics

What if all suffering is born from one thought, one idea: the thought “I am separate from everyone and everything?” Then the cure for all suffering would be simply to drop this belief. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Drop one thought, one idea, and you are free forever.

But what does that mean, drop this one thought that I am separate from everyone and everything? That would be dropping the belief that I am me. There really isn’t any way that I can pretend to myself or others that Tom is one with everything. I mean, Tom inhabits a body, thinks thoughts about himself, spends large amounts of time fixated upon the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that seem to make him the center of the Universe. No, Tom is very much separate.

So, the only way to drop the idea of being separate is drop the belief that I am Tom. To drop the identification of Tom as the reality of that which is typing these words. Is the typist, in fact, Tom? Is there anyone actually doing the typing? It is in asking questions such as these that it is possible to get a glimpse of our true nature. When we drop the identification with our “selves” and drop the identification as the one who does things, then we can rest as that which is real. That which is true. That which is truth.

The truth is given many names: spirit, God, presence, awareness, beingness, consciousness, the Universe, etc. Awareness or Love are my two favorites. I can really connect with these terms. Awareness is that which looks out my eyes, and love is that which looks out of my heart. Both of these work for me.

Awareness is that which connects me the quickest to an experience of this sense of oneness, this existence beyond the notion of my separate self. I find that placing my focus upon awareness itself, turning my attention inward and looking at awareness as it is, creates a tremendous sense of openness. It creates a space from which lots of goodness flows. It opens “me” to greater peace. And that is a wonderful thing.

It seems to me that all problems are completely resolved in this experience. In this stillness. In this presence or awareness. Being still, resting in reality, feels like the ultimate answer. We shall see.

Riding the Leading Edge

Written on June 13, 2008 by Tom Stine / 22 Comments »

credit: david.nikonvscanon

When I ride on a roller coaster, I love to ride in the front seat. Everything seems to happen right now when you sit in the front. I put my arms up, of course, no holding on, no matter what the coaster does. Upside down, slammed to the side, you name it. It’s just more fun to be on the leading edge of the experience, arms up, come what may.

I realized recently that this same attitude is very important to take with life in general. Especially with thoughts and feelings. We usually “ride” our thoughts and feelings, especially our unpleasant feelings, in the back seat, as far from the leading edge as possible. We hope that the unpleasant ones will simply go away, and if we sit far enough away from them, maybe they will. But they never do. All feelings will keep returning until they are experienced fully.

More and more I’ve had the experience of moving to the front seat and experiencing most of my feelings and thoughts head on. While I can feel everything more powerfully, and some things seem a little more frightening, the whole experience feels more alive and interesting. It feels almost invigorating. I feel like I’m on the leading edge of my life, and it feels good.

In many senses, being on the leading edge is what awakening is all about. We wake-up from riding on a roller coaster with our eyes closed, holding on for dear life, sure we are going to die a horrible death. And we awaken to the realization that the sun is out, the coaster is flying 90 miles per hour, we are strapped in and loving the ride, moment to moment, in the front seat.

credit: alex quintana

The leading edge. That sums it up. We are like surfers, riding the leading edge of the wave, hanging out on the front side. We may always be in the Now as Eckhart Tolle would say, but we can either live it hanging off the back end or riding the leading edge, wind in our faces, hair blowing, shouting, “Yeah baby!”

We Are Free of the Past

Written on February 21, 2008 by Tom Stine / 2 Comments »

My good friend, Matt, sent me the following the other day:

Ultimately…it’s not the stories that determine our choices, but the stories that we continue to choose. —Sylvia Boorstein

The timing of Matt’s email couldn’t have been more perfect. I have been thinking a lot about the past, and the above fits well. As this statement aludes to, the past that we remember as occasional thoughts and stories that we tell ourselves and others, does not have a dramatic impact upon our current lives. It is the past that we remember over and over again that influences our present experience.

When anything occurs, it always happens now. In this instant. And just as quickly, it is gone. Even if it is an event that takes place over an hour, a day, a month or a year, every aspect of it occurred in just one instant, an instant which is over. Ultimately, then, every bit of the events of our lives, and thus all the details of our stories, ends up in the past as nothing more than a memory. And there is the biggest tragedy and greatest hope with regard to our past.

As Sylvia Boorstein indicates, we keep choosing to remember certain of our stories, and we then define ourselves by the details of these stories. For instance, I graduated from college, and therefore I have a rather large memory, filled with multiple events and details, that I have carried around with me and used to define who and what I am: I am a college graduate. But in fact, isn’t my experience of having gone to college just a memory? How can I even really know for sure that all the things that I think happened to me during college every really occurred? I can’t. All I can say is that I remember them.

While graduating from college is a fairly innocuous example, we can quickly imagine a whole host of stories that would be far more dramatic and, for almost everyone, far more influential upon their present lives. For instance, if I had dropped-out of college because I had a problem with drugs or alcohol, I could easily be carrying that story around with me today as a large limiting belief that makes my life difficult. But, upon reflection, it seems valid to ask whether an event that occurred 2 or 10 or 20 or 40 years ago really means anything in terms of the present time. Almost everyone would answer yes, but I think the better answer might be no.

Given the fact that the past is gone, that it no longer exists, then we have a chance to experience some real freedom from what we thought were the stories that defined who and what we are. We can start with the obvious truth: the past is unreal. It is at a minimum gone, done, finished. In a very real sense, though, we can say that it was never real. Only what I am experiencing in this moment has any reality, if we are honest about it. My high school graduation is just a collection of faded memories. Can I say it even really occurred? Even if you show me a photo of the event, does it really make it real? No. It is only my memories that tell me that I walked across a stage, received a diploma, went to a party afterwards, etc. But it can’t say for sure whether I did it because I am not now doing it.

All of this must mean, then, that at this moment, we are all free of our pasts. Our pasts do not exist. Our stories are just that, stories, that are not real. And without them, we are free to do and create anything we choose without limitations based upon our past. We are free, truly free (and we always were).